A woman from Japan was telling a friendabouthertrip to the UnitedStates. The woman had visitedmajorbusinesses and investmentcompanies in NewYorkCity and Chicago.

"I studiedEnglishbefore I lefthome," she said. "But I still was not sure that peoplewerespeakingEnglish."

Herproblem is easy to understand. Americans in business are likepeoplewho are in businessanywhere. Theyhave a language of theirown. Some of the words and expressionsdealwith the specialareas of theirwork. Otherexpressions are borrowed from differentkinds of worksuch as the theater and movieindustry.

Onesuchsaying isgetyouracttogether.

Whenthings go wrong in a business, an employermaygetangry. He mayshout, "Stopmakingmistakes. Getyouracttogether."

Or, if the employer is calmer, he maysay, "Let us getouracttogether."

Eitherway, the meaning is the same. Gettingyouracttogether is gettingorganized. In business, it usuallymeans to develop a calm and orderlyplan of action.

It is difficult to tellexactlywhere the sayingbegan. But, it is probable that it was in the theater or movieindustry. Perhapsone of the actors was nervous and made a lot of mistakes. The directormayhavesaid, "Calmdown, now. Getyouracttogether."

WordexpertJamesRogerssays the expression was common by the latenineteenseventies. MisterRogerssays the ManchesterGuardiannewspaperused it in nineteenseventy-eight. The newspapersaid a reformpolicyrequired that the Britishgovernmentget its acttogether.

Now, this expression is heardoftenwhenofficials of a companymeet. Onecompanyevencalled its yearlyreport, "GettingOurActTogether."

The Japanesevisitor was confused by anotherexpressionused by Americanbusinesspeople. It is cut to the chase.

She heard that expressionwhen she attended an importantmeeting of onecompany. Oneofficial was giving a verylongreport. It was not veryinteresting. In fact, somepeople at the meetingwerefallingasleep.

Finally, the president of the companysaid, "Cut to the chase."

Cut to the chasemeans to stopspendingsomuchtime on details or unimportantmaterial. Hurry and get to the goodpart.

Naturally, this saying was started by peoplewhomakemovies. Hollywoodmovieproducersbelieve that mostAmericanswant to seeactionmovies. Many of theirmoviesshowscenes in which the actorschaseeachother in cars, or in airplanes or on foot.

Cut is the director's word for stop. The directormeans to stopfilming, leave out somematerial, and get to the chasescenenow.

So, ifyouremployertellsyou to cut to the chase, be sure to get to the mainpoint of yourstoryquickly.